A teenager has been arrested as he was trying to blow up a van which was full of explosives. The van was parked near a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in the area of Portland, Oregon. The teenager has been identified as a Somali born US resident.
When the FBI agents went to arrest him, he was shouting “Allahu Akbari” which means in Arabic that “God is great.” The name of the boy is Mohammed Osman Mohamud and he was trying to kick the FBI agents when they went to arrest him. He was arrested when he was just on his way to dial a mobile phone, which he thought will blow up the van once the call has been made.
The bomb was actually a dummy one which was supplied by the undercover agents just as a part of the sting operations to catch this young suspect. He was arrested at around 5.45 pm, on the day of the Thanksgiving holiday. It was clearly seen from the attitude of the teenager that there are still now many people in America who will not hesitate in killing the Americans. Mohamud was arrested on charges of using weapons of mass destruction to kill innocent people. He will be produced in court on Monday.
The sting operations began in June when the police got a tip off that Mohamud was in touch with some agents in north-west Pakistan where Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists are suspected to be hiding. Mohamud used to keep in touch with the associate through email. From December 2009, they started using code language in their email where Mohamud promised to take part in the Jihad and kill the Americans. He then planned to set off explosives in the Christmas lighting ceremony in Portland. It is at this point that the undercover agents came into the picture and the plot was made to arrest Mohamud. He fell easily into the trap and was caught by the FBI.
